Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-12-22
IN CENTRAL AMERICA.

Some of the Hardships Experienced by
Travellers in Costa Isica.
Thousands of ox-carts are still employed
between the towns of Ezparza and Alajuela,
the termini of the Costa RIGA railway, car
rying freight over the mountains, and IL US
ually takes week for them TO make the jour-
ney of thirty-hve miles, often longer, for on
religious festivals, which occur with sur
prising frequency, all the transportation
business is Suspended. traveller who in
tends TO take q steamer at Punta Arenas
must send his baggage on a week in adj
vance. He leaves the train at Alajuela,
mounts Il mule, rides over the mountain to
the town of Atenas, where he spends the
night. The next morning at daybreak he
| resumes his journey and rides fifteen miles
to San Mateo, breakfasts at eleven, takes
his siesta in a hammock until four or five IN
the afternoon, then mounting his mule
| again. covers the ten miles to Esparza by
sunset, where he dimes and spends tho
night, usually remaining there, TO avoid tho
| heat of Punta Arenas. until few hours be-
fore the steamer leaves: and then, if the OK
| carts have come with his baggage, makes
| the rest of his trip by rail
The journey is not an unpleasant one.
| The scenery is wild and picturesque. Tho
roads are usually good, except in the dry
season. when they become very dusty, and
after heavy rains, when the mud is deep.
moisture evaporates rapidly, and in six
hours after q rainfall the roads are hard
and good. The uncertainty as to whether
| his trunks will arrive in time makes the
| inexperienced traveller nervous. This
! Costa-Rican cartmen are the most irro'
| sponSible and Indifferent beings On earth.
| They travel in long caravans or process
sions, often with two or three hundred
| teams in a line. When one chooses TO stop
| .all ar
wait for him if it wastes a week. None
| will start until each Of his companions is
| ready, and sometimes the road IS blocked
| for miles. awaiting the repair OF some
| damage. The oxen are large white patient
| beasts, and are yoked by the horns, are
| not by the neck. as in modern style, LASH
ingo of raw cowhide being used TO make
| them fast. They wear the Jokes con-
tirually. The union is as permanent
as matrimony in a land where divorce
| laws are unknown. The cartmen are
| as courteous they are indifferent. They
always lift their hats to a cG6Gi'ero as he
| passes them, and say: MAY the Virgin
| guard you on your journey" Thousands
of dollars in gold are often intrusted to
| them, and never was a penny lost A
banker OF San jose told me that he usually
received $4,000 in coin each week during
| coffee season by these ox-carts. and consid-
| cred it safer than if he carried 1t himself,
| although the caravan stands in the open
| air by the roadside every night Highway
robbery is unknown, and the cartmcn, with
their wages of thirty cents day, would No
| know what use to make of the money Il
| they should steal it. Nevertheless they al
ways feel at liberty to rob the traveller of
| the straps on his trunks, and no piece a
| baggage ever arrives at its destination SO
| protected unless the strap is securely
nailed; and then it is usually cut to pieces
| by the carttnen as revenge for being de-
| prived Of what they considered their pew
| quisite.-W Z. Curtis. "a HorFer's Xggazi q